Charleston’s Sword Gate House is For Sale

May 10, 2017

Charleston’s historic Sword Gate House is an elegant Federal style South of Broad residence built in 1803… It has been painstakingly restored, and it happens to be for sale! Located on Legare Street (pronounced Luh-gree), it is privately nestled behind its famous front gates which were originally commissioned for the City’s Guard House but rejected because the proposed price was too steep. Sword Gate House was constructed by Solomon Legare, the man for whom Legare Street is named. It features over 17,000 square feet including 9 bedrooms, 13 full and 3 half baths. Adamesque wood work, plaster work and composition work enhance many of the most formal spaces including the grand ballroom and dining room. The property is entirely secured by stately old brick walls and commanding gates of iron. Let’s take a look inside!

In 2002, Sword Gate House underwent an extensive restoration.The work reassembled three lots that had been subdivided into a single parcel and then converted the entire structure back into a single-family house. (Read more here.) According to Charleston Inside Out, this is the third time Sword Gate House has been listed in the past decade with no sale yet. The asking price is $19.5M, and you can obtain additional information and see many more pictures here.

Thanks, Andrea, for this post about the Sword Gate House. My book club (we are in Columbia SC) did a walking tour of Charleston last year that focused on the novel The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (about the Grimke sisters who were leaders in the abolition cause). The guide stopped in front of these gates and told us about the finishing school that Madame Talvande ran there in the 1800s, and the Grimke sisters attended. Mary Boykin Chesnut of Diary From Dixie fame was also a student. Because of this mention by the guide, we decided to read a biography this year about Chesnut, as she lived much of her adult life in Camden, SC (my hometown!). And of course….that led to a “field trip” to Camden recently to see antebellum homes of Chesnut’s era and hear a talk about her contribution to Civil War history at the Camden archives. All because of the Sword Gate House stop! So much history to learn and even revisit.

My husband and I were married there in 1985. We may have been the only people staying there at the time. The inn keeper was the witness in our small three person wedding. Guy ridgeway Smyth was the offiante. It was magical.